Netflix’s sexist rom-com sensation gets a minor upgrade in The Kissing Booth 2
Film Reviews moviereview
Netflix’s much-beloved 2018 “Summer Of Love” lineup came with one major misfire: Vince Marcello’s regressive, all-around-unsettling teen rom-com The Kissing Booth, a film whose central aim seemed to be to get its 16-year-old female protagonist undressed as often as possible. Coupled with a male romantic lead who uncomfortably toed the line between “endearing bad boy” and “violent sociopath,” The Kissing Booth indulged all the worst impulses of the romantic comedy genre. But since its story of a girl falling for her best friend’s older brother reportedly became one of the most watched (and rewatched) films on Netflix, its sequel arrives just in time for the lazy, hazy days of this socially distant summer. (If the idea of a high school kissing booth felt antiquated in 2018, it’s really out of touch with our current moment.)
To his credit, Marcello—who returns to write and direct the sequel—seems to have taken criticism of the first film to heart. The Kissing Booth 2 drops the misogynistic undertones of the original, and Joey King’s Elle Evans stays mercifully clothed throughout. Her newly long-distance boyfriend, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi), has been refashioned as less of a violent delinquent and more of a softboy with communication issues. The film even digs into the intricacies of female friendship as Elle navigates her relationship with Rachel (Meganne Young), the new girlfriend of longtime best friend Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney).
And yet, without the outdated gender politics to gawk at, The Kissing Booth 2 is mostly just boring. Like the similarly episodic, under-baked Netflix rom-com sequel To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, The Kissing Booth 2 doesn’t quite know how to extend its premise into a second feature. (Marcello lampshades that with a meta scene in which Elle and Lee get the green light to restage their kissing booth fundraiser, only for their student council to warn, “Last year’s gonna be hard to top.”) In broadening the world of the first film without really deepening it, The Kissing Booth 2 often feels more like a spinoff TV series—although at an unconscionable 132 minutes long, it’s hardly a breezy watch.
The plot, in so much as there is one, involves two potential foils for Elle and Noah’s relationship. While Noah’s getting chummy with elegant Harvard pal Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Elle is thrown together with hunky new classmate Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez). He’s the only dancer at her school talented enough to help her win the $50,000 prize at a “Dance Dance Mania” tournament that looks like the opening ceremony of The Hunger Games. Elle needs the money because she’s thinking about going to college with Noah in Boston the following year—never mind that she’s long promised Lee they’d attend Berkeley together.
Elle and Lee’s strange, codependent dynamic is The Kissing Booth 2’s most interesting relationship. (It helps that King and Courtney are far and away the film’s most charming performers). This franchise answers the question “Can men and women just be friends?” with a resounding yes, but also acknowledges those friendships can sometimes feel different than same-gender ones; there’s a smartly observed silent negotiation over whether Lee’s best friend or girlfriend gets the prime front seat spot. Unfortunately, when it comes to Elle’s romantic life, The Kissing Booth 2 is much less original. Perez is marginally more charismatic than Elordi, especially since the film allows him to sing and dance his way into Elle’s heart. But neither are as compelling as the question of why Elle’s high school is full of teenage boys who look like adult Marvel superheroes.
The Kissing Booth 2 has good intentions—much more so than the first film, at least. It wants to tell a story about the importance of communication, both in romantic relationships and close friendships. Yet when its teenage characters are as removed from real life as these ones are, it’s hard to imagine that message landing with any actual force. In how blatantly The Kissing Booth 2 teases a third installment, however, it looks like this franchise is aiming for at least one more chance to get the balance right.
43 Comments
I legitimately love the original in an MST3K bad movie kind of way.
Must have watched it like six or seven times now just because it’s fucking hilarious introducing new unsuspecting people to The Kissing Booth.
I actually have a really high tolerance/love for bad teen rom coms (I’m literally giving a powerpoint about the extended Cinderella Story universe later today) but between the violent behavior from the brother, and whoever’s decision it was to make joey king get naked for increasingly convoluted reasons, I just couldn’t get on board with this one. But I agree that introducing it to unsuspecting people would be fun.
The Cinderella Story pantheon is peak fun-bad teen rom coms.
They’re so deliciously bananas! Why was that a story that called for 4 (four!) sequels?! Why are they all musicals, when the original wasn’t? Why was Jane Lynch allowed to adopt the daughter of one of her backup dancers? Where are social services in all of this?(My 10 minute power point on everything bananas in these movies ran out of time with 1 and a half movies left to go)
Are 2 and 3 really separate movies if I can’t tell Selena Gomez and Lucy Hale apart?The level of autotune they use in some of the performances is ::chef’s kiss::.Of course Missy Pyle and Jane Lynch steal every one of their scenes in their respective movies.
of course they are, since in 3, she only has 1 step sister, despite two steps sisters being like one of the three fundamental requirements for a cinderella retelling.
I ask you a serious question: Would it be a good movie to watch while super high?
I love how you ask that question is if there was any other possible way to watch the film! Even little kids are injecting the marijuanas into their eyeballs before they hack into the matrix to watch The Kissing Booth.
2001: a Space Odyssey? Speed Racer (couldn’t be worse that watching it lucid)Disney’s Robin Hood?
Maybe?
As a visual spectacle, obviously not, but if you wanna get into that introspective analytical mindset and just tear the movie down, it’s really quite interesting how much of it is very obviously adapted from a 15 year old’s Wattpad novel.
Like it’s obviously bad because it’s a rom com written almost exclusively by a teenager, but it’s also quite fascinating exactly because it’s a rom com written almost exclusively by a teenager.
with elegant Harvard pal Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), tell me we didn’t lose punk-rock Charlie for this.
Is Charlie undercover and working against the Fates in this?How have I never heard of the first one of these? (Just lucky maybe?)
I really appreciate your efforts to tie everything to Legends and how often it involves undercover work. That was genuine, not sarcastic (in case you were wondering).Addendum: yes, you are lucky you have never heard of these movies; the first one was stomach-churningly awful.
We all need to have a purpose in life & I am happy with mineThis movie is over two hours long! It sounds so bad it is hurtful
She just wanted that quick paycheck. Plus if this movie has the viewership that the first one did, she can gain some fans. (Legends is what’s going on her reel, but it’s not that widely watched.)I think she’s planning on directing a little? Definitely planning on seeking out more passion projects. So this was a smart business choice. Alas.
How can the “sexiest” rom-com get an upgrade? That means it’s already ‘the most sexy,’ so how can it
Oh.
NM.
My girlfriend adored the first one to the point of watching it multiple times, and is now begging me to watch this sequel with her. I am rapidly running out of ways to say no.
Having you considered going blind?
Tell her that the AVC has serious reservations about its moral qualities as a feminist-forward movie. She’ll immediately realize she was wrong to like the first one and avoid the sequel
Just say no
That is one jacked high schooler in that last photo, someone check the PE teacher’s office for steroids.
That’s not a high schooler, that’s a man, baby!
They make a big point in the movie of emphasizing how super buff he is, but he seriously isn’t. Any bog-standard amateur Instagram fitness influencer is bigger than this guy. Watching the film, I coulnd’t understand why they couldn’t have just cast one of them to play the part instead.
I enjoyed the first one because the tropes of ‘secret relationship’ and ‘forbidden romance’ are things I will always get sucked into. But there was zero need for a second one – I thought the first one ended in a solid way. I don’t really care if they continue their teen romance.
132 minutes. What’s worse: that this is a genuine running time for something so inconsequential or that it is potentially a joke?
I remember my partner watching the first one and being slack jawed that the guy was the romantic interested and portrayed as a positive healthy option. It was appalling and gross.They could always just not make a sequel, but I don’t think they considered that.
I admit from the trailer I was curious about whether they were going to call him out for the very concerning behavior exhibited in the first one (“I’m going to fuck everything that moves, but if you so much as look like you may date someone I’m going to beat them up”) since Marco was so very much healthy relationship material… but no. No. I’m with Marco on this one.
Also, the scene where she’s going on and on over the intercom about his body went on for an UNCOMFORTABLY long time. Like, way way too long.
I only caught a few scenes, but what I gathered from what I saw, he was the ideal partner because he is attractive and nothing else mattered.
Y’know, I kind’a like romantic comedies. But I swear Hollywood doesn’t know how to do ‘em right. Asking Hollywood to do ‘romance’ is like asking Trump to do ‘empathy’.
This is probably about my age (mid-20s) more than anything else…but it’s weird to watch former child actors graduate to leading romantic roles!Like, Joey King was Ramona, dammit!
Has anyone here actually seen a kissing booth in real life? I thought they were something from ‘50s college field days and movies?
The last time I saw a Kissing Booth was in the film Revenge Of The Nerds. If I have seen a KB in real life or in other films I do not have a clear recollection of this memory.I saw the OG film but why oh why is the sequel so long? Maybe the director figured he had a captive audience what with the SIP orders still in effect and figured people would say screw it and let the film run to its full conclusion despite it being what…as long as Terminator 2? If only it was even remotely as good a film as T2. The run time is just nuts.
That’s the exact move I was thinking of actually.
I saw a cat kissing booth in a Youtube video. The guy stuck his head out of the booth (when he stood, it came up to his knees) and his two cats, kissed him.
I haven’t seen either of these movies, but, uh…you know not *every* movie has to have the same gender themes, right? I’ll never understand why the progressive movement basically wants to make women conform to traditional masculine ideals rather than letting everybody regardless of gender meet somewhere in the middle.
Can we all agree to stop laughing at and/or thinking it’s clever when writers admit their laziness out loud through meta asides? Maybe they’ll stop if we stop encouraging them.
The people in the main image look like the same person.
I honestly enjoyed the first one. I think it might be a misreading to say the film just wants to leer at Elle when a major plot point is the disgusting guys at her school slut-shaming and sexually harassing her and yet her being so used to it that she still goes on a date with one of them, which the narrative is self-aware about. She has to wear a short skirt once and immediately she’s bait to them. Noah seems like less of a psycho when you consider that he’s getting into fights with guys who genuinely seem like potential rapists of a girl he’s known his whole life, and/or guys who are going to beat up his little brother. He never treats Elle badly, and their relationship is sexual but that’s not unrealistic for a relationship between a 16 and 18 year old. At one point he does yell at her, but he’s more yelling ABOUT the fact that she’s vulnerable in these dangerous situations with total assholes who are constantly disrespecting her. I definitely think it’s trash, but I don’t understand why this movie in particular is framed like the most dangerous romcom of all time. I wouldn’t even rate it in the top 10.
Also, yeah the lead is supposedly 16, but that’s in the same way that the Riverdale kids are, and that’s always seen as the fun garbage it is. Idk why this reads so differently
although at an unconscionable 132 minutes longyikes. While the tight 90 isn’t a hard rule for comedies, it’s definitely a good mark to aim for. The only rom-com worth 132 minutes is Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Team Marco all day
Eh, if so many women watched it that it immediately merited not one but two sequels, I’d say the sexism is a lot less of a problem then you’re making it out to be.
A C- is way, way too kind to this complete dog turd of a movie. This is an easy F. Not in any way an improvement on the previous film and it’s bizarrely lengthy, which makes it arguably worse. Even enjoying it ironically takes a substantial amount of effort.